Seeing It With Your Own Eyes
We made it! This is the final episode in season one… and it is a huge day for the medical research group SciMar.Some scientific discoveries are exciting because they reveal something that was…
Going Back to Square One
Starting a story at the beginning makes sense… but what if there is a mistake in that first sentence? Does it invalidate the rest of the story? What if your experiment is based on an assumption that la…
Generations: What Newton taught Einstein
How many astronomers does it take to discover a planet that doesn’t exist? The Answer: Generations.Depending on where you live, (and a thousand other variables) your life expectancy is pro…
When Snake Oil Enters the Courtroom
What do you think of when you hear the term Snake Oil? Do you think of miracle vitamins with outlandish claims? Do you think of sneaky sales people trying to separate you from your money? Or…
Diversity, Leaded Gasoline, and Carjacking
The answers to life’s biggest questions will vary widely based on one simple variable: who you ask. If you do an experiment on men, you might get a different result than when you do it on women. R…
Science Podcasts
In Season 2 of the series we will share a new collection of surprising and unusual stories from the history of science. In each episode we will feature two seemingly unrelated stories from the past. Then, Dan Riskin will connect the dots between those stories and offer insight into how that history impacts modern medical research.
Spreading the News
Science communication has impacted our lives more than we ever thought it would. Getting complicated scientific and medical information out to a large number of people is crucial to our public health. And it is not easy. We will look at how stories can help spread and preserve information.
Guinea Pigs
Let’s talk about the use of animals in medical research. It’s not a subject that people are very comfortable discussing, but we are going to do it anyway. We will start with an incredible story of a fire in Bar Harbor Maine that impacted the health of people all over the world for years, even though they never even knew about it.
Follow the Money
The relationship between researchers and funders is complicated.
Old Meets New
The Amish community in Pennsylvania is heavily impacted by genetic diseases. You might think that their resistance to modern technology would make it difficult to treat these conditions. But actually their philosophies around family and community make it easier to manage these diseases.
Too Much or Too Little?
We often complain about having too little of something: Too little time, too little money. But today in first world countries a lot of our problems come from having too much of something: Too much sugar, too much technology.
Unintended Consequences
We’ve all heard the saying about “the best laid plans….” but there is a caveat to that. Not all unexpected consequences are bad. Sometimes something really amazing occurs unexpectedly.
